10.  The applicant was born on 14 June 1988 and lives in Remire Montjoly in French Guiana, a French overseas “département and region” in South America.
11.  He arrived in French Guiana from Brazil in 1992, at the age of four, and attended school there for a year before returning to Brazil in 1994.
12.  In 1995, in possession of a tourist visa, the applicant returned to Cayenne in French Guiana, where he joined his parents, both of whom had permanent residence cards, and his two sisters and two brothers, one of whom had French nationality while the other three, having been born on French soil, were entitled to apply for it. His maternal grandparents remained in Brazil.
13.  The applicant attended primary then secondary school in French Guiana from 1996 to 2004. As he had no proper residence papers and could not apply for them until he came of age (see paragraph 26 below), he had to leave school in 2004, at the age of 16.
14.  On 25 May 2005 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of a drug offence. By an order of 17 May 2006, the Cayenne Youth Court placed him under court supervision and barred him from leaving French Guiana.
15.  In a judgment of 25 October 2006, the Cayenne Youth Court sentenced the applicant to two months’ imprisonment, suspended, and two years’ probation, together with the obligation to report to the authorities and to undergo training, for unauthorised possession of cocaine while under 18 years of age. In execution of that judgment, the applicant began a vocational training course that was scheduled to last from 13 October 2006 to 30 March 2007, as part of the socio-professional guidance and integration scheme in French Guiana.
16.  On 25 January 2007 the applicant and his mother were stopped at a road check. As the applicant was unable to show proof that his presence on French soil was legal, he was arrested.
17.  The same day, at 10 a.m., an administrative removal order (arrêté préfectoral de reconduite à la frontière) and an administrative detention order were issued against him. The removal order stated:
“–  Having regard to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950 and in particular Articles 3 and 8,
...
–  Whereas, according to report no. 56 of 25/01/2007, drawn up by the DDPAF [Département Border Police] of French Guiana, the above-mentioned person:
–  is unable to prove that he entered French territory legally;
–  has remained in French territory illegally;
–  Whereas, in the circumstances of the present case, an administrative removal order must be issued against the alien concerned,
–  Whereas that person has been informed of his right to submit observations in writing,
–  Whereas, in the circumstances of the present case, there is no disproportionate interference with the person’s right to family life,
–  Whereas the alien does not allege that he would be exposed to punishment or treatment contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights in the event of his return to his country of origin (or the country of habitual residence to which he is effectively entitled to return),
...
[The applicant’s] removal is hereby ordered.”
18.  On 26 January 2007, at 3.11 p.m., the applicant sent two faxes to the Cayenne Administrative Court.
One contained an application for judicial review of the removal order, calling for its cancellation and the issue of a residence permit. In support of his application the applicant alleged in particular that the order was in breach of Article L. 511-4 (2) of the Code regulating the entry and residence of aliens and asylum-seekers (Code de l’entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile – CESEDA) (see paragraph 26 below), and also, relying on Article 8 of the Convention, that the authorities had manifestly misjudged the consequences of his removal for his personal and family life. He explained that he had entered French territory before the age of 13, that he had lived there on a habitual basis ever since, that both his parents had permanent residence cards, and that one of his brothers had acquired French citizenship and his other brother and sisters had been born on French soil. He further submitted that he was under an obligation to abide, for two years, by the conditions of his probation, failing which he would go to prison, and that, as required by the probation order, he had already begun a course in mechanics.
The other fax contained an urgent application for the court to suspend the enforcement of the removal order in view of the serious doubts about its lawfulness. In support of his application the applicant again relied on Article 8 of the Convention and repeated the arguments mentioned in the application for judicial review, which showed that most of his private and family life had been spent in French Guiana.
19.  On 26 January 2007, at 4 p.m., the applicant was removed to Belem in Brazil.
20.  On the same day, the urgent-applications judge at the Cayenne Administrative Court declared the urgent application for a suspension of the applicant’s removal devoid of purpose as he had already been deported.
The applicant immediately applied for legal aid to appeal to the Conseil d’Etat against that ruling. By a decision of 6 March 2007, the President of the Legal Aid Office of the Conseil d’Etat rejected his application for “lack of serious grounds likely to convince the court”.
21.  On 6 February 2007 the applicant lodged an urgent application for protection of a fundamental freedom (requête en référé liberté) with the Cayenne Administrative Court. Referring to the Convention and to the Court’s case-law, he complained of a serious and clearly unlawful interference by the authorities with his right to lead a normal family life and his right to an effective remedy. He requested that the prefect of French Guiana be instructed to organise his return there within twenty-four hours of notification of the order, to enable him to defend himself effectively regarding the alleged violations of the Convention, and to be reunited with his family while the prefecture examined his right to stay in French Guiana.
By an order of 7 February 2007, the urgent-applications judge at the Cayenne Administrative Court rejected the application, considering in essence that the measure the applicant sought would to all intents and purposes amount to a permanent measure, whereas the urgent-applications judge could only order interim measures.
22.  In August 2007 the applicant returned to French Guiana illegally.
23.  On 4 October 2007 the Cayenne Administrative Court held a hearing in which it examined the applicant’s earlier application for judicial review (see paragraph 18 above). In a judgment delivered on 18 October 2007, it set aside the removal order. It noted in particular that the applicant claimed that he had returned to France in 1995, at the age of seven, and had resided there on a habitual basis thereafter, and that in support of his claims he had produced school certificates the authenticity of which the prefect did not dispute. It found it established that the applicant’s mother had a permanent residence card and that his father also lived in French Guiana. The court further noted that, according to a court supervision order produced by the applicant, he had been arrested in French Guiana in 2005 and prohibited from leaving the territory. It found that the applicant fulfilled the conditions provided for in Article L. 511-4 (2) of the CESEDA, which meant that the removal order should not have been issued against him.
In response to the applicant’s request to instruct the prefect of French Guiana to issue him with a residence permit within a month of the judgment being served, the court considered that its decision did not necessarily entail the issue of a temporary residence permit as it concerned only the setting aside of the removal order. The court did, however, set a three-month time-limit within which the prefect was to resolve the question of the applicant’s residence status.
24.  On 16 June 2009 the prefecture of French Guiana issued the applicant with a “visitor’s” residence permit, which was valid for one year but did not allow him to work. An investigation revealed that the authorities had issued the “visitor’s” permit by mistake. On 23 September 2009 the applicant was issued with a new residence permit for “private and family life”. It was backdated to June 2009, valid for one year and allowed him to work.
That residence permit was not renewed upon its expiry on 15 June 2010 because of a problem with the documents required for its renewal. On 14 October 2010 the applicant was issued with a new residence permit valid from 16 June 2010 to 15 June 2011, subsequently renewed until 15 June 2012. The applicant now holds a renewable residence permit for “private and family life”.